Zig Zagging Calories plus exercise

slpardue

I have been stuck at the same weight (give .5.lb to 1 lb) since 4/15/11. I want to break this cylce! Only 5-7 lbs to go!!!
I can't seem to find this answer! Does anyone know if you zig zag your calories and exercise, do you eat your exercise calories too?

For example: For me to lose 1lb a week according to MFP, my calorie intake is 1480 before exercise and to maintain it is 1980 per day. If I zig zag it would look like this:(www.freedieting.com/toolscalorie_calculator.htm)

Monday: 1617
Tues: 1294
Wednesday: 1940
Thursday: 1617
Friday: 1456
Saturday: 1779
Sunday: 1617

If I go to the gym 4 times a week (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) and burn around 400 calories each time, do I eat those calories back ?

For instance, tonight it says to eat 1617. I exercised burning 300 calories. That gives me with MFP 1780 calories to eat today. DO I only eat 1617 of it or do I really eat around 1900?

I don't know why I am so confused with exercise calories and zig zagging!!!

jenttifer

From what I've learned when you zigzag calories you take the total amount of calories you should eat in one week. (Mine is 1420 per day, x 7 days, and that's my total per week). Then I break my days down one low calorie, one medium calorie, one high calorie, etc...to make up the 7 days. During these 7 days you are still eating the same amount of calories as before, they are just broken up differently. So yes, you would still eat your exercise calories since the calorie count per week hasn't changed. I was in a rut for a little while and just started doing this and have seen results already.